The Lion's Ruby
by Dagron
Summary: Crossover DC.CCZelda. Conan and friends and anonymous Kaitou are faced with some very lost hylians. What's this about a magic rupee, part of a set of three? Men in Black and balls of lightning? Chap 12 updated. So what was it that happened really?
1. Of rubies and rupees

%Blabber warning - shouldn't be so much next chapter%  
  
Dagron somehow got the very, very weird idea to write a Zelda – Detective Conan crossover.  
  
Not knowing where to put it (how many people go to the crossover section?) she thinks the best place to put it is in the DC/CC section, since Hey! DC/CC fans are more likely to recognise Zelda characters than the other way around :c)   
  
Dagron ponders a moment: "Eck don't tell me that Zelda characters have different names in the US?!" %Dagron gets GLARED at by Funimation% "Ah, ha, just kidding!" %sweatdrops%  
  
Ooookay  
  
Disclaimer (why do English fanfics have disclaimers and not the French ones?!):  
  
Detective Conan and Magik Kaito are Gosho Aoyama's and his alone! (Hear that Funi'?) %Dagron gets clobbered xx% er,... and... Zelda is... Nintendo's-.... %faints%  
  
DC character name changes I know of and that you'll need to know for this chapter (for those who aren't lucky and don't get to know the original names):  
  
Er... Phantom Thief Kid = not appeared yet and probably won't have a real name change.  
  
Hakuba Saguru= Not likely to appear (only one or two eps, around ep 300 was it?)   
  
Koizumi Akako=even less likely and all three are really Magik Kaito cast...  
  
Oh well, I promise Conan will appear next chappy.  
  
(And if anyone would be as kind as to share the Funi' names of Eri Kisaki (Ran/Rachel's Mom) Akemi Miyano (I know her borrowed name Masami Hirota was changed to Michelle, but I am curious to know what the guy with long hair called her at the end of the ep where she appeared) and of Shinichi's parents (I think they appear somewhat this week) I would be most happy, since I'm really curious about all these name changes! Wonder when someone will post a fic with "Harley Hartwell" instead of Heiji written :cp)  
  
Oh and reviews are REALLY helpful, because they give me insight on how bad/good I write. I'm too in the writing to be a good judge myself.  
  
%End of the ratbag Dagron's Blabber%  
  
The Lion's Ruby  
  
By Dagron  
  
Chapter 1: Of ruby and rupee.  
  
%%%%%%  
  
The trees in the park were rustled gently by the wind as he landed in their midst, silently letting his paraglider slide back into hiding. His moonlit face smirked at the thought of the police officers all running and cursing after a decoy Kid. He chuckled softly remembering the face Hakuba, one of the most clever detectives he knew of, had made when he, Phantom Thief Kid, had outwitted him by both getting the stone he sought after and somehow landing the half British detective under the famed "Dog-pile on the Bandit".  
  
He sighed, taking the jewel in question out of one of his numerous secret pockets. It was a very rare ruby, its color akin to golden and translucent, the Lion's Ruby. Looking up towards the full moon in the clear sky above his head, he held the jewel up high.  
  
His eyes opened wide as something he hadn't really expected happened.  
  
"It's glowing... I can't believe it's actually glowing!"  
  
He let out a whoop of victory, and did some sort of jig with his feet, before pausing, suddenly unsure...  
  
"But wasn't Pandora supposed to glow red?!"  
  
Suddenly the golden shining light of the stone intensified, the hand he was holding it with felt it start to vibrate. With a yelp he dropped it to the floor, and jumped to the top bough of the closest tree. There he looked down at the ruby, which was now surrounded by a twirling glow. The glow widened, as he looked on. He wondered whether the sorceress Koizumi Akako would be able to somehow explain this phenomenon to him; if he cared to ask of course...  
  
With a flash of light, the stone blinded him, as he heard something like a roll of thunder followed by the dull thuds of heavy objects landing on the grass.  
  
Once the light had subsided, and he had regained his eyesight, he discovered several lumps that looked like people... Several very, very Weird people.   
  
"That's it!" He grumbled to himself. "No more Ginger Ale for Me before a heist..."  
  
And with a puff of smoke, the magician thief vanished, leaving the ruby and the lumps/people undisturbed.  
  
%%%%%  
  
When Link awoke, he felt as if he'd been knocked out by a Stafoss. A painful thing such a headache is. He rubbed his hand against his forehead, muttering under his breath. When he opened his eyes, all he saw was that they seemed to be in some sort of clearing surrounded by trees. Slowly standing up, he looked around. It was night. Boy he hated not knowing where he was when it was dark. He noticed that he wasn't alone though, and smiled.  
  
He poked the seemingly sleeping form closest to him.  
  
The unmoving lump groaned in response. "Wake up princess." He whispered. The girl turned her face to face him, blinking through her eyes that wouldn't see him just yet.  
  
"Link?" She asked. The seventeen year-old boy smiled. "I'm going to see if I can wake the others."  
  
And with that, he started prodding the sleeping forms that lay around, each groaning in turn as the minds swirled back to consciousness.  
  
To his delight, the sky was starting to brighten, announcing that morning was soon to come. He would be going of to find wood and food soon. He was glad his headache too had gone, but he somehow felt as though he was forgetting something. He shrugged, and went towards the thickest clump of trees in search of dry twigs and fallen branches.  
  
-  
  
Around twenty minutes later, in the slowly brighter morning, Link, Zelda and their companions were gathered together around a tiny twig fire.   
  
Apart from the Hyrulian Princess and the Hero of time, there could be found:  
  
-Impa, the princess's sheikah body-guard and sage of shadow.  
  
-Saria, Link's childhood friend and sage of the forest.  
  
-Darunia, the sage of the fire's son, named Link after Link.  
  
-The Zora princess, sage of water, Ruto's cousin, Ruthan.  
  
-The sage of Light, Rauru.  
  
Each and every one of them was baffled as to how they had found themselves in the clearing without their knowledge.  
  
With a sigh, Zelda, also known as the sage of wisdom, decided it was time to put things straight.  
  
"Okay. So none of us know how we got here. But I think we all remember being in the same place before we arrived here, right?"  
  
"The castle!" Answered Ruthan brightly.  
  
"We were organizing an emergency meeting as to the escape from the temple of time of the evil lord Ganondorf." Recalled Impa.   
  
"There was a crack in the pedestal of the Master sword and a magic rupee lying on the floor." Added Rauru, helpfully.  
  
"And when I took the master sword out to check in on the light kingdom, Ganondorf wasn't there." Explained Link.  
  
"You then called on an emergency meeting of the sages..." continued Saria.  
  
"Or a relative of their choice..." Goron-Link rectified, pointing to Ruthan and him.  
  
"And before all the sages had arrived..." Zelda said.  
  
"The magical rupee left behind glowed." Her six companions finished her sentence.   
  
"Indeed." Said the princess. She pulled the rupee in question out of her pocket. She had found it lying on the grass not far from where she had woken up.  
  
"I believe this stone has something to do with how we magically found ourselves here."  
  
"Where ever "here" is..." commented Link dryly. He was pretty confused at how few branches he had been able to find under the trees, and at the total absence of edible berries, fruit, roots or even game that he could recognise.   
  
He somehow wasn't convinced that they find themselves somewhere in Hyrule at all.  
  
%%%%% 


	2. Strangers in the Park

%Blabber start%

See chapter one for disclaimers.

DC character name changes I know of and that you'll need to know for this chapter (for those who aren't lucky and don't get to know the original names):

Conan=Conan (duh) Ran Mouri=Rachel Moore (Kogoro=Richard)

Ayumi/Genta/Mitsuhiko=Amy/George/Mitch Prof.Agasa doesn't change.

Shinichi=Jimmy And, erm, Haibara Ai/Shiho Miyano/Sherry is probably quite the spoiler character for those who only watch Case Closed. She appears around ep. 120 if I recall.

For the Zelda Characters you only need to now that Ruthan (the zora boy) is an invented character.

This chapter is probably quite long compared to the first.

Oh, thanks for your review PK .

% Blabber End%

The Lion's Ruby

By Dagron

Chapter 2: Strangers in the park.

%%%%%

The birds were chirping away above the roof of the Mouri detective Agency. Ran lead Conan down the stairs and out into the street. The sleepy looking boy yawned and jogged up to his guardian's side. The seventeen year-old girl smiled at him, feeling content in the cool morning breeze. Freely they started their walk towards the professor's home.

Neither had classes today and they were going to make sure they put this time to profit. Ran's dad was sleeping off another night of gambling and drinks, but he was likely to be able to take care of himself okay until the evening. Ran had left some ready to heat up meals by the kitchen stove and she had her mobile phone with her in case of emergency. It sometimes felt really weird to be the one looking out for and taking care of the person who was supposed to be your parent. At least Conan wasn't as much trouble. It sometimes seemed as if he too was keeping an eye on her, but she didn't mind. He was so sweet and careful. The only times he really got annoying were when they accompanied her dad on a case. Sure enough, he would be putting his nose every where, but he was so helpful that she would have trouble stopping him.

Today they had planned to join up with the Detective Boys, Conan's school mates, and professor Agasa, to go to the science museum. The friendly old man was so proud that the museum's directors were interested in one of his projects; he had insisted on them all going along together.

"Yaaaay! Conan!!" A little girl was waving happily in their direction. They had just arrived in sight of the professor's house. Ayumi, the little girl with the yellow head band, and her two friends Mitsuhiko and Genta, must have just been dropped off by their parents.

"Hi you guys" answered Conan, a smile on his face. It was difficult to not smile in front of their anticipation and friendliness.

Ran walked up to the front door and rang the door bell.

"Good morning!" she said, as the door was opened.

"G'morning..." answered the auburn-haired child behind the door. Haibara Ai stifled a yawn, before giving the elder girl a tentative smile.

"The Professor's just finishing a few things," she explained, in her ever calm and soft tones.

"Hello everybody!" came Agasa's friendly voice. The four detective boys outside smiled their greetings up at him, although Conan did lift an eyebrow when he noticed the scorch marks on the professor's lab coat.

"I'm sorry but I'm going to take a wee while longer than I thought" he said, shaking his head, his hair bouncing at the base of his neck.

"I suggest you go to the park for half an hour. I won't be finished until than. Sorry about the delay."

"You don't want us to lend a hand?" asked Ran, but the elder man had already bustled back to his works.

Shaking her own head, Haibara closed the door behind her. "You really don't want to go lend him a hand." She looked towards the others, a weird gleam in her eyes. If Conan had thought she was of the impressionable sort, he would have thought she looked a bit pale.

"Trust me." She said.

Hesitantly Ran began to lead the children away from the door.

Then a loud boom was heard.

Haibara groaned as the professor's cries of "Every thing's okay! That was meant to happen" reached their ears. Ayumi and Mitsuhiko giggled, Genta laughed, Ran and Conan sighing reluctantly and smiling at their old friend's ever-lasting optimism.

%%%%%

Ran was walking ahead, listening to the three other innocent children's blabber. Conan walked behind, beside Haibara.

"Hey," whispered Conan to the young girl. "What is it that the professor's working on? It seems pretty explosive."

"You can say that again," she answered, rolling her eyes in an unchildlike fashion. "It's not that I criticize his work, but I really don't like the idea of mixing inflammable gas with robotic gadgetry."

Conan chuckled. "I see what you mean. The morning before I got, er you know, he was working on some jet propelled travel belt. I thought hell had broken lose before I realised what it was."

_The morning before I got shrunk_... They both knew that was what he had in mind. Conan Edogawa was nothing less than Kudo Shinichi, astounding high-school detective and, until that day, neighbour to the professor. His brutal morning call hadn't been the only thing he hadn't been expecting that day. Heck, being shrunk by some experimental poison is more than you could call a surprise. Even Haibara, previously known as Shiho Miyano or Sherry, hadn't really been counting on it, when she in turn had taken the accursed pill, although she did suspect it's less common proprieties.

"Don't worry." Conan said. "He's always been happy-go-lucky with his research, but he's never injured himself badly before. Hey, I'd even say he's been getting more careful ever since you've been staying with him."

Haibara smiled. "That's only because I menace not to help him with the housework if he isn't." That comment made a tiny sweat drop appear on Conan's forehead.

It was then he noticed that something was strange. Looking startled, he jerked his face towards what had caught his eye.

"Hey, isn't that smoke over there?"

Before the others could react to his outburst, he was already running at full speed towards the park's gate. Yes, that was a small column of smoke he had seen. Someone, or something, had started a fire in the park. Ignoring the inquiring shouts from his companions, he jumped over the small gate and ran in.

Although the gate wasn't locked, he knew the park's caretakers wouldn't be in until they'd finished their morning coffee down at the Beika café. He crossed his fingers hoping that the fire wasn't out of hand, but he did find whoever had lit it stupidly irresponsible.

%%%%%

When the other's joined him, they could see that he hadn't at all expected to find what he saw. Dumb, he stared on at the group sitting in the grass in front of him.

And the group stared back.

Link looked at the little boy that had suddenly arrived, running. The chatter and theories the others had been discussing stopped at the same time. Link searched his mind to name the funny shining black circled things the boy had on his nose.

What are they called already... Spectators? Er no... Plasters? Neither... Gasses? Er Nope... 

"Conan, what...?" Four children and an older girl had now arrived. Zelda, being a princess, stood up to face the newly arrived group. The little boy that had been called Conan looked up to the elder girl, gaped, and then looked back at them.

A cute dark-haired girl with a pretty head-band decided to break the silence.

"Er, excuse me but, what are you doing...?"

"Around a small campfire...?" Added one of the two other boys.

"...In the middle of Beika Park?" Asked the freckled one.

Tassels? Er neither. Spectaltes? Link was still searching for that one word.

Zelda tried to give a warm smile as she answered the three children.

"We're trying to figure that out." She answered honestly.

The exchange seemed to pull the first boy out of his reverie.

"What in the name of A.C.Doyle do you think you're doing lighting a fire in a park?!" he near shouted. This startled Zelda and her companions.

"Ah!!! Now I remember! Glasses! It's called glasses!" Of course, they were all more startled by Link's sudden outburst. "The old scientist down by the lake wears them too, except he calls them Spectacles. Yay! I remembered it."

This made nearly everyone sweat drop, a little embarrassed, Conan fidgeted uncomfortably with his said glasses. That was before he was aggressed by what he had until then thought was a lump of stones.

"Hey look!" went Goron-Link "He's got round ears!" He was tugging at Conan's so-called ears.

"Waouh, really?!" exclaimed a small girl with green hair. "That is so bizarre!"

Conan yelped and squeezed his way out of the Goron's grip, before running to hide behind Ran. He might really be a seventeen year old teenager at heart, but these guys were just plain freaky. He hadn't noticed until that comment made by the lump of stone, but apart from afore-mentioned lump and some skinny blue-skinned guy? kid? They all had rather long and pointy ears. And that blond guy's get-up was pretty scary too. It looked like he was wearing some sort of green tunic and tights?!

Link too felt awkward upon seeing Conan's group. He was curious about why their ears weren't pointy, but having seen many different kinds of people and races, it didn't really disturb him. He did feel a bit self-conscious upon noticing that all but one in the group had dark, dark hair. He unconsciously put a hand to his brilliantly blond hair.

He then yelped and jumped up.

"My Hat!" He had known he'd forgotten something. Not only did he not have his sword and shield, but he had lost his hat. No wonder Navi the fairy hadn't bugged him yet.

Ruthan, Saria and Goron-Link were now observing and being intently observed by the three main Detective Boys, blabbing out their observations pretty loudly.

Sighing, Impa, seeing that Zelda didn't really know what to do, stood up.

"Come on Kids, stop being so noisy." She extinguished the fire with some earth she'd scooped up. Rauru had stood up too, and was now addressing Ran, who looked thoroughly confused.

"I'm sorry, my name's Rauru. If you'd be kind enough as to tell us where we are, that would be a great help."

Glad to be able to concentrate on something to put her bewilderment aside, Ran complied...


	3. Follower

%Blabber warning!!!%

See chapter one for Disclaimers.

Detective Conan/Case Closed character name changes I know of and that you'll need to know for this chapter (for those who aren't lucky and don't get to know the original names):

Kaito Kuroba = main character from Magic Kaito (aka Kid :cp)

Conan/Shinichi=Conan/Jimmy Ayumi/Genta/Mitsuhiko=Amy/George/Mitch

Ran=Rachel Agasa=Agasa

Ai Haibara= yet to appear (but if they feel the need to change her name I really think they'd be weird to call her anything else than Vic Gray). %-Dagron encourages people to read PD James and Sara Paretsky -%

If you don't know the Zelda characters I suggest a trip to a Zelda "Ocarina of Time" website.

Oh and thanks for the reviews Anica106 and Louna[merci pour le review en franglais lol;)]

By what I see so far not many critics on the way I write which kind of makes me feel good, but hey, I'm only starting on this fic;;;;.

Anica- double thanks for the names I did kind of spot them looking around the net, but it's nice to get an answer But Booker sounds like a real weird name to me (my sis' even corrects the way I pronounce it -.-), in which area is it used? (If you know)

Dagron is now facing the problem that she doesn't actual see if this chapter is funny or not... She feels like she's swerving to something more like er... nah, suspense might not be the right word. 9.9

%End of the ratbag Dagron's Blabber%

**The Lion's Ruby**

By Dagron

%%%%%

Chapter 3: Follower...

%%%%%

The shadow jerked back into hiding as the group of people came out of the park. It was an unusually big group to have been hanging around the park this early in the morning. The lurking shadow half guessed as to why half the group had been there.

Curses! So it wasn't a dream... he thought to himself, as he tried not to stare too hard at what looked like a kid masterly disguised as a rock. The teen shook his unruly mop of hair, looking disbelievingly at the strangers and not so strangers in front of him.

I sure wish that annoying kid the best of luck in understanding this lot. He added mentally, before starting to follow them, discreetly, of course.

%%%%%

"Hummm..." In an obvious attempt to ignore how weird the buildings were, which had unknowingly surrounded what he had thought, till shortly before, was some forest and a clearing, Oh, and also those weird moving things that the locals had called a "car"; Link was trying hard to think out all that he had understood from what the girl, Ran was it? and her friends had said.

'_Beika district Park? What's a district?' 'Er... Beika district is a part of Tokyo...' one of the kids had explained. 'Tokyo? Is that a big village?' Collective sweatdrops from the locals. 'Do you know where Japan is?' asked the boy with glasses. A big collective 'Nope!' came from the newcomers, more sweatdrops from the locals. 'Er, you really aren't all cosplaying some video game characters, are you?' Ran said tentatively... 'Cosplay?' 'As in disguising yourselves, wearing costumes?' Stares and glares answered that query. 'Riiiight... I guess we'd better all go to the professor's house right now and sort this out. Fast.' Ran didn't want to think of what could happen if any one saw these guys, and if they were thinking they were being funny, which she doubted, they would have to answer to her karate._

Right, if I got this straight, that magic rupee teleported us all to this 'Beika' place in a country called Japan. In Japan they probably don't see much Zoras or Gorons, judging by how they've been looking funny at Ruthan and Goron-Link. Same for Hylians I guess. It would explain how come we've never heard of these 'Japanese' either. It must be a pretty far away country. I wonder if Ganondorf is here? and with these thoughts, his face became sombre. No way... he swore mentally. am I going to let Ganondorf harm this place. 

He felt, more than noticed, Zelda's hands grip his arm. Just by glancing at her eyes, he knew she had been thinking along the same lines too. They were definitely going to do a lot of talking once they were at 'the professor's house'.

%%%%%

Conan looked warily around, hoping no body would pop out of their homes and question this group of fancy-dressed weirdos. Although he knew they weren't fancy-dressed. He'd seen both Genta and Mitsuhiko avenging his own ear-pulling by returning the favour, and it definitely looked like they weren't props. How that could be, he had no clue. He stuck close to Ran while observing these newcomers.

The two teenage blonds looked kind of like a couple. Although more like the Sato-Takagi couple than the image Sonoko was so prompt to display in her voiced daydreaming. Although the boy did look really dodgy in tights, he walked with a demeanour that spoke of intelligence and an acute awareness to surroundings. His hands looked rough and well used. The girl's appearance was softer, but she held herself something not far off from princess. She spoke with authority, but seemed to like to think things out first.

Conan turned his eyes towards the elderly man, with the wide girth. He stood to the side, and looked the perfect figure for authority. Perhaps a priest? His gown did seem to hint at that.

Conan turned a very wary face towards the second woman in the group. The one with red eyes. Contact lenses or something? He couldn't fathom how Haibara managed to talk calmly with her, especially since he'd seen some weird marks on the lady's hands. Blade marks? Needles? he really felt weird about that lady. He garb reminded him vaguely of some ninja

Stories. He hoped she was only some kind of body-guard or security officer, and not a trained murderer.

Lastly he turned his eyes to the three smaller members of the foreign group. And then he wished he hadn't. He blinked, rubbed his eyes, and stared as the lump of rock, who was walking with his friends and the three Detective Boys in tow, picked up a stone by the side of the path, and took a bite. His thought processes froze on him as he heard the stone-boy say "Miaam! Nice rock."

Right... It's best not to try and understand that one. He noted to himself.

He rapidly noted that the skinny blue kid talked kind of like Mitsuhiko did: looking superior with his knowledge but still behaving like any normal 7 to 10 year old. Conan definitely did Not want to analyse the flipper looking things. He gladly whisked his eyes towards the more Human looking of the three short and mysterious. Green hair and pointy ears aside, she looked like a very normal and pretty 10 year old girl. Her giggles were melodious, and she seemed to sing as she spoke. He did note however that she did seem to be much more patient than the other two and his three young friends put together.

He let out a sigh as relief when Ayumi joyfully ran up to the gate of Agasa's home, shouting loud welcome to her new made, although queer, friends.

%%%%%

"Okay people, let's get in." said Ran. "I'm sure the professor won't mind if we sit in his lounge."

"Ah, wait a minute, Ran." Conan chirped. "I think there's some one else we need to talk to first." Ran looked a question at Conan.

"Come on out Mister Lurker." He said resuming for the first time since the park incident his confident smile and 'I've caught you' face.

A yelp was heard, and suddenly a teenage boy with messy hair was noticed. Most of the group looked startled too. He approached while asking the young boy: "Hey, how come you noticed me?"

"You walk too quietly."

Sure, that answers it. Thought Kaito sarcastically. The young magician wasn't happy either at noticing that both the funny guy in tights and the weird woman with red eyes didn't seem to be surprised by his appearance. So much for shadowing... Ah well, I'm more of a show off any way. 

"So, what do you want?" Conan asked.

Kaito shrugged. "I just thought I might be able to help these guys out. I kinda saw them arrive in the park." He invented quickly. He wasn't really going to admit that these guys had given him a fright the night before, that they probably had the jewel he was wanting to return to Nakamouri, and that he had followed them thinking they might actually be harmful in some way he would have wanted to avoid. Oh, and also the fact he was really really curious about the apparition thing. Seeing that they were all looking at him suspiciously, he added quickly:

"Ah, and the name's Kuroba, Kaito Kuroba."

Conan was still looking suspiciously at him, but one of the newcomers, the girl with long hair, spoke to him.

"Ah yes, if you did see us 'arrive', I guess we would appreciate your help, mister Kuroba. Is it okay?" She asked Ran, motioning as in for them all to go in to talk.

Ran looked at Haibara, considering she actually lived with Agasa, and at the young girl's shrug, she nodded.

%%%%%


	4. The witch’s advice

_%Blabber warning %_

_Do I have to say this? Disclaimer in chapter one! -.-_

_Name correspondences off my hat:_

_Conan=Conan Shinichi=Jimmy_

_Ran=Rachel Ayumi/Genta/Mitsuhiko=Amy/George/Mitch_

_Agasa Hiroshi=Agasa (where's my first name?) _

_(At night)Kaitou Kid= Phantom Thief Kid= Kuroba Kaito (during Day time)_

_Koizumi Akako= Magic Kaito character_

_Haibara Aï = Sherry = Shiho Miyano = Not appeared yet! :cp _

_Now, I'm done with the multiple-identities. _

_Oh, and Ruthan's mine... Although he caaan do as he pleases..._

_Just like Baikal and Akira (other OCs) have been doing in my French Fic. Half sorry for such a late update... Those two guys (and Ran) were too busy keeping ME busy in my French fic... Although..._

_Only a couple more chapters and that one's done! Yeah ! That would be my first ever Completed multiparter hahaha:cD And I'm so thrilled at the idea of what might hit my French readers in the back of the head XD_

_Huhum_

_And sorry if I like poor Agasa's lab and explosions getting along so much o.o I guess it might be a little mean..._

_Enjoy! (Do tell me if these chapters are getting too long... Although the more the merrier some might say!)_

_Oh review response: Thanks Anica106 :c) and sorry for confusing you. I assumed that the reason I'd never heard of a Booker before was because it wasn't a name used a lot in my area o.o (although an englishy name in France would be hard to just drop upon) And thank you Eiri-san1 - I enjoy having fun ;cD_

_Ack, they strip the arrows in between which I put thoughts and my multiple % separators XD nooo!_

_%End of the ratbag Dagron's Blabber%_

**The Lion's Ruby**

By Dagron

Chapter 4: The witch's advice...

**%please stay%**

The first thing they did once inside was to get all the newcomers seated in the living room. Conan and his three friends helped by fetching some more chairs, while Haibara went to get the professor. Ran decided to make some tea and Kaito offered to help, considering bringing through teacups for fifteen people to be the best occasion to show of his juggling art. Of course, he didn't warn Ran before hand, having simply insisted on lending a hand.

The Hylians fidgeted and exchanged comments on what they had seen so far of the country named Japan. Soon the Detective Boys had brought enough chairs through, and settled to wait for the Professor and tea, Genta, Mitsuhiko and Ayumi, in their friendly childish way inquiring about the world of the three smaller newcomers.

Kaito soon arrived carrying, er, sorry, juggling with apparent ease the fifteen tea cups. Conan and Ran's nervous glimpses at his handling the cups where accompanied by Oohs and Aahs from the others.

Alas Kaito's show was soon interrupted as everyone jumped upon hearing the noise of glass breaking. Kaito rapidly stopped juggling and plonked the cups onto the table, counting them in the process. Nope, all were there and none were broken. The noise must have come from somewhere else in the house. That theory was confirmed by Haibara's shouts of "Professor!" and the boom of a small explosion coming from somewhere near the back of the house.

Link, Zelda and company were soon greeted by the sight of the owner of the house. Professor Agasa, as most of you already now, was a portly man of similar birth to Rauru's. He wore a somewhat better for the wear white lab coat on top of his normal everyday attire. His bushy moustache and hair, usually white, were grey with soot. On the whole, he looked friendly enough, although his smearing black marks across his forehead did nothing to help his exterior. The Detective Boys giggled. Conan and Ran sighed once again, and Kaito had the grace to only look curious. Haibara shook her head in resignation before heading to the bathroom to get a facecloth for the professor.

"Haha...Well, welcome to my home," said the Professor. "Ai tells me you people were in some kind of fix, and I'm inclined to believe her. My name is Agasa Hiroshi, shall we begin?"

The professor sat down on a free chair, inviting one of the newcomers to start their tale. Zelda, being the princess, politely waited while the professor thanked Haibara and proceeded to wipe off most of the soot from his face, before introducing herself and her friends.

"I am Zelda, princess of Hyrule. These people here..." she indicated her companions in order. "Are Link, hero of time and saviour of Hyrule, Rauru, the guardian of the temple of Time and sage of Light, Impa, the sage of Shadow, Saria, sage of the Forest, Goron-Link, son to the goron leader and Ruthan, the Zora King's nephew."

- Riiight...- thought Conan, - So she is a princess. I don't quite get the sage things though. - The Detective Boys simply blinked, before asking Saria in aparté whether being a sage was a cool thing or not. Haibara simply stayed stoic as Ran proceeded to introduce her self and the children.

"And you are?" inquired Agasa upon noticing Kaito.

Stepping proudly forward, Kaito proceeded to introduce himself in amongst a shower of confetti, letting a few doves fly out from within his sleeves.

"I am Kuroba Kaito, teenage magician extraordinaire, would be Kaitô Kid stalker and accessorily witness to these peoples' arrival."

"Ah that explains the tea cups then." Commented Conan dryly. Kaito returned the sarcastic look. Haibara muttered to herself something about hoping he would clean up his own confetti.

"Ah yes," said Zelda, ignoring Conan's sarcasm. "Do tell us what you saw when we arrived at... Beika Park, that's what you call it?"

With a nod, Kaito began to tell them his story. No, he did not tell them of how he had fallen upon his father's secret cove and picked up his mantel. He told them the strict truth: he, Kuroba Kaito, a normal Highschool grader who just happened to be stalking Kid last night, managed to keep up with the thief until Beika Park. There, he watched as the wondrous magician (that he knows he is, whatever Aoko might have to say about it), lifted the Lion's Ruby, that night's heist, up to the moon. There, the pretty jewel started shining and, after the thief had gallantly dropped it to the floor, (he wasn't going to admit that he freaked out,) the light started swirling until it reached it's climax. Said climax at which the light became blindingly bright the length of a thunder clash (which apparently had not been caused by a passing cloud, there being none), before returning to normal leaving only the sound of people thudding down to the grass below.

"After that, Kid left, so I decided it was time I went home to bed. Swirly bright jewels aren't really my cup of tea." He finished, putting described cup to his lips.

"Wow, that's really weird!" exclaimed Mitsuhiko. Ruthan enthusiastically seconded the freckled boy's opinion.

"Do you think it might be some kind of magic stone?" asked Genta, his voice filled with excitement.

"It sounds like one," answered Goron-Link, whom the detective boys had already nicknamed G-Link, or Glink, saying that his name then made the same sound as he did when crunching on rocks. (They had -luckily- managed to dissuade him from biting a chunk out of his mug.)

"That's so cool. What do you think Ai?" chirped Ayumi, while Saria simply hummed her approval behind her.

"Well, there's definitely something abnormal about that jewel. Of course, it could be one of Kaitou Kid's tricks too, although that does seem unlikely."

Her comment was answered by gasps of uncharacteristic shock.

"What?!" she asked, swirling her face towards the others.

"Ha- Haibara! Your eyes! They're..." mumbled Mitsuhiko.

Conan too then turned to look at Haibara's eyes. He gasped at what he saw. Her eyes, usually a cusp of emerald green und turquoise blue were glowing, an unusual bright red.

Link too, started, as he had just noticed Kuroba's eyes change colour too. They had changed from their tranquil marina blue to a flickering violet. He shuddered.

Impa, who had been deep in the thought, looked up. She had a guilty tremor as she took in the facts. She took a deep breath, and as suddenly as they had first, Haibara's and Kuroba's eyes changed color once again.

"What's wrong with my eyes?" Haibara asked, annoyed at not understanding what all the fuss was about.

"Ah! There back to normal!" stated Ayumi.

"Your eyes glowed red! So weird! Can you do that again?!" wondered Genta. For all response he got a level glare and the most disbelieving look Haibara had yet had to give him.

Rauru coughed politely, indicating that it was best to return to the safe conversation of the Lion's Ruby.

"Hmm," went Zelda. "The Lion's Ruby you say?" Gingerly she took the said mineral out of her pocket and laid it on the table.

"As for our part of the story, we did not know the name of this stone. We simply found it laying on the floor, just outside Ganondorf's empty prison. It was our only clue as to how he had escaped from the secret realm, and we were gathering so as to discuss it. Before..."

She waved her hand in the air, as if to describe the swirling light and teleportation that followed.

"But now that you mention it, I do believe this could be the Lion's Rupee."

"Ah yes..." said Impa. "I do recall you telling me of it, when we talked about the legends your father passed down to you. You said something about it being part of a set of three, not unlike the spiritual stones, keys to the secret realm. Not much else though."

Kaito groaned at this.

"What's wrong?" asked Ran.

"I am so going to regret this..." Kaito muttered to himself. To the others' profit, he said more loudly:

"I believe I might know of someone with good knowledge of such 'magical' stones." Wryly, he continued. "Just give me five minutes, I'll go call her."

Without waiting for an answer, he strode out towards the front door.

"Ah, that reminds me, I left something on in my lab, I should go check it out." The professor stood up with these words.

Haibara stared up at him with a shocked look in her eyes.

"You didn't... !"

And, as if to mock her, the third explosion of the day sounded from behind the house. With a slight apology, both scientist and protégée hurried towards where the boom had come from.

The detective boys sweat dropped a little. Ruthan looked up towards Impa.

"Can we?" With a nod, Impa agreed, and Ruthan and Glink darted out to the garden to play, closely followed by the local child brigade. Conan blinked as he looked at Saria.

"You're not following them?"

She shook her head, smiling, humming something close to a 'no'.

"Oh well." Conan stood up to help Ran gather up the cups and mugs, as she carried the tea tray to the kitchen, thus leaving the newcomers, minus two, alone to talk.

**% seperation2%**

- I don't want to do this; I really don't want to do this. - thought Kaito desperately as he stopped by the gate, searching his pockets for something unknown. A few rainbow coloured hankies and confetti later, he held up something that looked vaguely like one of those transparent rubbery medicine pills that you feel like squeezing. For those who read Full Metal Alchemist, aka Hagaren, it might look like one of them philosopher stones. Of course, it was neither, but Kaito still looked at it as if it could bite. He recalled what had happened in class the previous day.

Although his mind had been whirling about in excitement, at the thought of the upcoming heist, he was studiously keeping up his act of boredom. It was afternoon break, and Aoko had gone off to chatter with Keiko. He'd finished playing tricks for the day, and was patiently waiting for the bell to ring.

"Hey..."

- Ooh bugs bunny... - It was the local witch and class top model, Koizumi Akako. She'd be nice enough if...

"I hear Kid is going to a rather special heist tonight."

...If she didn't keep going on about him as if he was Kid. He knew he was, she knew he was... But he was damned if he'd admit it. Oh, and there was the little matter of her hitting on him which kind of irked him too. Hell, she'd tried to kill him because of it!

"So?" he answered, wishing she wouldn't bend her head in that way.

"If he hears anything about that query of his being part of a set of three, I do think he should call upon me."

"Ha! And how would he do that?" He didn't like the sound of this. Koizumi's hunches, the one's that had her bugging him before a heist, were usually accurate. Although why she tried to help him, he had no clue, probably something along the line of her conquest of the whole male portion of humanity.

"With this..." she plonked a little blob on the table. It was solid, but the red fluid inside flopped around, as the exterior complied.

"He just needs to be outside and to squeeze it hard in his palm, and I'll be there in a jiffy."

"You're not serious..." But the dark-haired beauty had already whisked herself off to her desk, leaving just in time for the bell to ring.

And now, Kaito was really considering using the stupid thing.

After taking in a breath, he mentally counted to five and...

... **Squeezed**!

**% endchap4 %**


	5. Chit chat

µµ**Blabber corner**µµ  
Good news... I've got at least three other chapters done, just waiting to be typed up... Have also started putting up the illustrations I've done for this fic on my Web Page (cf Profile). More good news: I've finished that fic in French that was keeping me so busy. Bad news is I've started a sequel for that one Xcp It might come around to steal my attention when I need to get started on more new chaps for this fic, but that shouldn't be for a while. :c) Am no longer going to put Disclaimer or Already-mentioned-Character name changes here. (I talk too much already.)

Note for reading: If you are not familiar with the Legend of Zelda -Ocarina of Time- storyline, you might just want to know that Big Bad Ganondorf killed Zelda's father and took over Hyrule for 7 long years, during which time Link, who had only been a boy, was "asleep" in the master sword, which was waiting for him to be grown up enough to wield it.

Anyway, enough of that, Happy New Year and I hope you enjoy the read.  
Dagron.  
µµ**End Blabber**µµ

* * *

**_Chapter 5: Chit chat._**

* * *

Zelda waited patiently for all the locals to have left the room. As soon as the door had closed behind the bespectacled boy, she counted mentally to three before turning to Impa.  
"Now... What happened?!" She demanded of her old nanny.  
The sage of shadow didn't even try to deny her understanding of the incident.  
The Sheikah woman sighed.  
"Sorry. My sage aura slipped..."  
"Slipped?" asked Saria, tilting her head to the side.  
Impa nodded. "One of the, erm, 'side-effects' of being the sage of wisdom is that when you let your aura slip, it indicates different peoples' relationship to darkness."  
Rauru rubbed his chin, pondering.  
"So if I understand," he said, "the aura of the sage of shadows highlights people with a connection to darkness by changing the colour of their eyes?"  
"In a way..." tempered the mature-aged woman. "The Sheikah red eyes often indicate a life in shadow, punctuated by a loss."  
"And violet eyes?" asked Link, who had been strangely quiet until then.  
"Difficult to say," she answered. "Unpredictable mostly, often indicates a loss though. The ones you want to be wary of have dark black eyes."  
"Why did you ask about violet eyes, Link?" Saria turned her own green eyes towards the youth.  
"Kuroba's," he answered, before smiling down at his now smaller friend.  
"Well, at least we now know one thing," said Zelda.  
Impa turned a quizzical look towards the princess.  
"Our magic can work here," she stated.  
"You're... Right..." replied Impa, looking thoughtful. "Although it does seem that the Japanese aren't used to magic."  
"How come?" questioned Saria.  
"They're less resistant to it," the sheikah woman chuckled. "If I'd let my aura really slip, Zelda's eyes would have gone red too."  
Link was puzzled by this for a moment. Then he understood.  
'Ah, yes. Zelda has lost her father... To Ganondorf.' He tried not to clench his fists too hard. He'd been asleep for those seven long and terrible years. There wasn't much he could do about it.  
"Did any of you notice something about the boy with glasses... Conan?" asked Rauru, all of a sudden. Impa, Link and Zelda blinked at him.  
"The melody..." said Saria. In front of the other three's renewed blinks, she elaborated.  
"Conan and Haibara's voice melodies are weird... More 'Adult'."  
Rauru nodded. "That's the impression I had too. They look like children, but somehow, they aren't."  
And with this, the sage of light went quiet, while they al waited for what would happen next, and pondered.

* * *

Kaito had closed his eyes, waiting for something weird to happen; such as the floor caving in or an instant mini tornado to come swallow him up. He counted mentally to ten, but had already peeked an eye open at eight. He'd felt something start oozing from within his closed fist.  
"Y-U-C-K!" he said, flailing his fingers open. A now empty plastic like baglet dropped to the ground as it's gooey red contents continued to ooze in his palm.  
"This. Is. So. Gross!" He accentuated each word with a vigorous shake of his offended hand. He decided, with difficulty though, to ignore the giggles that came from behind him. Most of the child brigade had come out to watch him from the garden.  
'And the bloody thing didn't even work.' He thought scathingly, darting angry looks up and down the street.  
Nope. No Koizumi.  
"I said to squeeze, not burst!"  
If the children hadn't already squawked, he would have showed them how to. Why couldn't the jolly sorceress go "Pom!" when she appeared out of nowhere, like any descent magical person?!  
Kaito breathed in deep.  
'Poker Face,' he thought. 'Must not show annoyance.'  
"You didn't say how hard not to squeeze. The silly thing's pretty flimsy..." he answered.  
"Awh. Don't say that! I put a lot of work into making it," answered the teenage witch. Leaning forward, she added, "I see you're not in your whites."  
"Hah! And how did you expect me to give it to him?" Kaito scoffed. "Come on, there are some people inside who are curious about that set of three you mentioned."  
'And please,' he added in thought, "don't mention the whites...!'

* * *

"Conan..." started Ran.  
"Yes?" he answered, trying hard not to accidentally break the cup he was drying. Having tiny hands was not practical when handling a tea towel and a cup.  
"What do you think of Kuroba?" she asked.  
The little boy frowned as he pondered the question.  
"He looks like a very confident show-off!" he said, remembering the juggling episode and the confetti. He had not been impressed.  
Ran stifled a laugh. Yes, that did sound like Kuroba. And so like Shinichi...  
"He doesn't remind you of anyone?"  
Conan didn't even think twice before shaking his head. A definite 'No'. Ran giggled this time.  
'So like Shinichi and so like you, Conan,' she thought.  
"I wonder what Shinichi would have thought of these 'Hylians'..." she whispered, smiling slightly at the thought.  
This made Conan nervous. He quickly put the last cup back on the kitchen surface, before innocently, or so he hoped, announcing he was going to the toilet.  
'What was all that about?' he wondered. He sighed. 'Oh Well.'  
He closed the bathroom door before pulling out his miniature phone. He wanted to do some background checks, but he couldn't ask the professor without insulting the new comers. As he dialled the number, he sincerely hoped Hattori would be willing to help him out...

* * *

The first thing Haibara did when she entered the lab was stare.  
She stared to her left. The scorch marks from the two first explosions of the morning were still there, but the plaster had long stopped smouldering.  
She stared to her right. The broken glass from the containers the professor had dropped earlier reflected back her face. Their contents had been safely sucked up and put into the chemical bin.  
No where did she see the signs of a third explosion.  
She reverted to staring at the Professor. Agasa had bustled past her, the two previous explosion marks and the broken glass. He was now fiddling with a video camera and a glass box.  
"Yes! It worked!" The moustachioed man crowed. "Third time best!"  
Haibara cautiously approached the video screen. The professor was replaying the event.  
"What's that?" She asked, watching Agasa's robotic dog throw a spherical object in front of it on the screen. She blinked when he gave the superfluous title, and waited to hear the more simple definition.  
"It's a light grenade, a noise grenade and a sleeping gas grenade all in one!"  
'I see...' she thought. She smiled. 'So the robotic dog was to test the grenade in safer conditions.'  
And she had still been so worried. Gosh. 'He'll never change.' She shook her head in a resigned fashion.  
"So you think you've finished for the moment?"  
"Yes!" he said, adopting his friendly godfather face.  
"Come on..." she said. "Let's tidy up."  
Agasa's face reverted to his more natural confused child face.  
"Ah... Of course!"

* * *


	6. The three rupees

_ùUsual Blabber Corner.ù_

_Had nothing better to do then type this chapter up. ;cp  
Ganondorf is a real pain, he doesn't need to show up that his name has already -Darkened- the tone. See new original character.  
On a brighter note, here comes Akako in the flesh. I think I can have some fun with her. (giggles thinking of the plot in her head.)  
Anyways, hope you enjoy this chappy ;cD  
And thanks for your reviews Terra89 and Fyliwion :c)_

_ùEnd of Dagron's Blabber.ù_

µµµµµµ

**Chapter 6: The three rupees.**

µµµµµµ

Ran was the first to return to the living room. Conan arrived at approximately the same tame as Glink, Ruthan and the Detective Boy threesome came squealing in from the garden.  
Akako's entrance was noticed.  
She glided in on Kaito's footsteps. All the boy's, minus Kaito and surprisingly Link, blushed upon seeing the dark-haired beauty.  
Zelda, Ran and Ayumi shared Kaito's 'not impressed' look, while the others simply looked on in curiosity.

Once Agasa and Haibara had returned, ('And not a moment too soon! Thought Kaito,) the young magician introduced his classmate.  
« Okay guys (and ladies), this here is Koizumi Akako. Koizumi, meet the 'gang'. »  
You would probably think a gentlemanly future stage man like him could have done a better presentation…  
But that was without counting on the fact that Akako liked to rule the stage.  
« Pleased to meet you, » she said, sitting herself down in the chair previously occupied by Kaito. « And welcome, » she added, nodding to the Hylians. They weren't that hard to pick out.  
The Queen was seated on her Throne, surrounded by her counsellors. She smiled.  
She quickly reassured them, she did not need to be told their names, (she didn't want to be bothered remembering them,) and rapidly came down to business. Ignoring the children's whispers of 'old witch' (and swearing interiorly to get back at them for it,) she slumped a pile of paper onto the table.  
« Here is some information on the Lion's, Mermaid's, and the Centaur's rubies , » she said.  
Link and Zelda, being the closest to the table, stared at the sheets.  
« What… language is it in? »  
Akako stared back at Zelda.  
« In Japanese. »  
« Can't read Japanese, » stated Link, shaking his head.  
« But you speak it! » Went Ran, astonished.  
« We speak Hylian, » said Rauru.  
Both newcomers and locals blinked.  
« Riiiight, » intervened Akako. « Anyway, I'll summarize it for you. »

To make a long summary short, the three rubies Koizumi had named were all supposedly magic stones, believed to peak in power every 333rd full moon.  
« Last night, » she said, « was the second night of the full moon. It is understood that each of these stones is active only one separate night. »  
They pondered the thought.  
« You mean… » started Ruthan, hesitantly, « That to go home, we must find the rupee out of the two others that will peak this evening? »  
« That's what seems most likely, » she answered. Zelda stared at Akako.  
« The second night of the full moon? » asked the princess. The witch nodded.  
« You don't mean… » started Impa.  
« No… It can't be… » added Rauru.  
The locals were confused by the looks of terror the elder Hylians were exchanging.  
« It can't be what?! » demanded Conan. He did not like the feeling of this.  
Link stood up.  
« You remember, » he said, « that we mentioned a man escaping from the sacred realm where he had been imprisoned… » The teenage boy pointed at the Lion's ruby. « We found that Rupee as only clue as to where he'd gone… But if what you… » he nodded at Koizumi, « have said is true… »  
« It is very likely that Ganondorf has arrived here the first night of the Fullmoon. » Finished Impa.  
Both Saria and Glink let out a small cry of anguish.  
« What… What has this Ganondorf done? » asked Agasa. The locals had been made very nervous by the newcomers' reactions.  
When Zelda had finished sketching out the ambitious Gerudo thief's rise and fall from power, they understood, perhaps not totally, but sufficiently, why the thought of Ganondorf free caused the Hylians so much worry.

ùmùmù

Ichigo Tsuki moaned, as he gripped his head. He was a skinny man in his late twenties. His shallow face and prominent forehead were topped by a scraggy mop of dark oily hair. His eyes, usually glassy from his excessive drinking, were now skitty with terror.  
« They don't believe me. They don't want to believe me. The bastards! He killed him… » A sob escaped from his constricted throat.  
« Ihara's Dead!!! »  
With an excess of reckless fury, he stood up and hit at the door against which he had been leaning. Tears of frustration rolled down his sunken cheeks. He slumped back down to the floor and curled up into a sobbing form.  
The events of the night before last kept unrolling again and again in his mind.

ùmùmù

Heiji Hattori picked up the mobile phone that was on the table, beside his personal computer. He pressed the call button, but then he remembered that he was a bit short on credit. He put the mobile down and, taking his printouts and notes with him, he went to use the house phone. He sighed as he leaned against the wall, waiting for the other person to answer the phone.  
« Come on, Kudo… » he muttered. Kazuha and his mom were in the garden, and he was hoping to avoid annoying questions.  
CLICK « Hello? »  
'At last!'  
« Hi Kudo! » Heiji's thick brows formed a frown when he noticed the noisy background he could hear through the receiver. « What the…? »  
« Don't ask. » answered the lilting child's voice at the other end.  
Conan was not impressed by Kuroba's act of 'Changing the Hylians into suitable clothes.'  
… Especially since he had the nagging suspicion that the 'Suitable clothing' had been mostly borrowed from the Kudo household. He had also noticed Haibara lift an eyebrow on seeing Rauru's and Saria's new get-ups. He went on…  
« What have you found? » Conan tried hard to ignore the newcomers' cries of enthusiasm and Kaito's loud « Prestos! »  
Heiji smiled dryly.  
« On your Lion's ruby, your Hylians or your weirdly dressed comrades? »  
« Don't go there. »  
Heiji chuckled.  
« Well, I keyed in the words Hyrule, Hylian and all I found was fantasy or videogame websites. Nothing fancy on the Lion's ruby either. I don't think you're interested in pricing value or Voodoo… They do say that the Phantom Thief Kid stole it last night though. Oh! There was a mention of 'Hyrule' in a case two nights back… »  
« Two nights ago?! » Conan's tone of voice sounded urgent.  
« Er, yeah. Some drunkard and his mate. The drunkard, by the investigator's opinion, found a way to put himself on fire. His mate swears that some tall red head, dark skinned guy in leather came around and got into a fight with the victim. He says he said something like 'Tell me how to get to Hyrule from Here!' The victim, the mate says, didn't comply so the 'thug' killed him with some fancy trick before stalking off. »  
The line went silent for a while.  
« Oye! Can you at least fill me in on what your case is? I mean I've had to put up with a lot of Kazuha's nagging while doing this research! »  
« Give me a minute will you? » Conan didn't wait for an answer. He went around the coach to discreetly ask Zelda for a description of Ganondorf. When he came back to the phone, Heiji was fuming.  
« Look Hattori, I don't understand much about this case at the moment. Can you give me the details of the 'witness' and his description of the murder? »  
Heiji was puzzled.  
« Wooh, you mean you think this guy is telling us the truth?! »  
« Why not? »  
« Saying that some giant freak used Fireballs and bolts of lightning to murder someone doesn't make me very convinced. »  
An exasperated sigh was heard.  
« I know. Just give me the details will you? »  
« Sure, but you owe me one! »  
Hattori, after giving the details, didn't wait to cut the connection.  
Conan looked with an air of dejection at his miniature phone, (that few had noticed him using.)  
'In the name of Holmes, I sure hope there's some logical explanation to all this.' He liked the idea of flying fireballs and lightning bolts just as much as Hattori did: Not at all.  
He put his phone away and was glad when the professor Agasa, seeing as it was already lunch time, offered to get them all some sandwiches to eat.

ùWhines: Fanfic net don't like my percent signs!ù


	7. Men in Black

_Ù Short Blabber. ù_

_New character names and or changes: Gin Gin Vodka Vodka  
Vermouth notappearedyetbutwouldn'tsurprisemeif Vermouth  
Rona is an original character._

_Ù End of the ratbag Dagron's Blabber ù_

_The Lion's Ruby_

_By Dagron_

_**ùmùmù**_

Chapter 7: Men in Black.

**ùmùmù**

With a determined Crack!, the tall long-silver-haired man lit a match. Trying desperately to ignore his company, he proceeded to lighting his cigarette.  
It was difficult to know what Gin thought deep down most of the time, but, for once, his thoughts were clearly written on his face.  
'Somebody, please, get me rid of these nuisances!'  
It taxed a lot on his restraint, but he knew better than to point his gun at these people. He was relieved to note that Vermouth shared his annoyance.  
With a sigh he recalled the events of the previous day…

_**ùPreviousùDayù**_

It had started out as a routine day.  
He had checked several ongoing projects via mobile phone, before looking at his agenda. He was due to pick up Vodka and another member around lunchtime.  
He had decided to go out for a drive before meeting Vermouth at some bar for lunch. That woman was up to her usual tricks again. He checked his gun in case she gave him cause to use it, but did not expect her to be clumsy enough for such a thing to happen… After all, she bathed in secrecy, and if there was a thing he liked in women, it was intelligence.  
Lunch was pleasant, he hadn't expected to get any information from Vermouth to start with. He knew the time would come when he would be able to confront Sherry again. Vermouth teased him about it.  
She had accompanied him to the meeting point he had arranged with Vodka. There they found the squarish man accompanied by Malibu, a lanky and short man in a black suit, without the head wear the other two men wore.

It was when they had gone to the alley way where he had parked his car that they had met them. Usually, he would have parked his car on a main street, and now he wished he had.  
At first the group in black had simply stared at the vaguely humanoid being that faced them.  
The thing looked like his wardrobe was taken straight from the movie of the lord of the rings. In truth, it looked like an orc, although Gin somehow thought the movies had presented a much more appealing head than the one he faced. It actually looked like it had a Pig's snout!  
Upon seeing them, the thing let out a barbaric growl and proceeded to lift a hefty antique-looking blood-smeared war axe.  
Without hesitation, Malibu drew out his own weapon and fired.  
The monster grunted, but did not stop. The bullet hadn't dug deep enough into it's leathery hide. Malibu took another shot, joined by Vodka. Both had silencers on their guns, never the less, Gin was starting to feel nervous.  
The beast had tripped a few steps backwards, yet it still waved it's weapon in their direction.  
Gin took out his own gun and aimed for the head.  
The thing moaned as if it had been badly wounded.  
Gin clenched his teeth. That shot had been to kill.  
« Fools! » boomed a voice from behind them. Both Vermouth and Gin started. A tall, strongly built foreigner pulled up beside them. « I'll show you how it's done. »  
Gin and Vermouth simply stared as the stranger's hands started to pulse with electricity. Noticing this, Vodka jumped to the side. Malibu, how ever, was not as smart or lucky. He screamed as his body was pierced by a bolt of fire and lightning, which then went on to stun the Orc.  
As the thick-skinned creature collapsed to the floor, the stench of grilled flesh hit their noses.  
Gin's face had blanched as he looked at the bin container behind the Orc, where the arc of lightning had hit last, before vanishing. Malibu was dispensable, his death hardly mattered, but that startling attack had missed his Porsche by a thread!  
The dark-faced man had then smiled, a traitorously predatory smile, before demanding of them their aid. He, and his companion, a dark-faced woman wrapped in what looked like desert clothing, wanted first to of all some place to talk quietly. The death screams of Malibu would attract attention.  
Gin didn't need to think twice before deciding he was NOT having these people in his car.  
They went swiftly, on foot, to a nearby abandoned studio the organisation used on rare occasions.

**_ùmùmù_**

And now, after an afternoon's worth of questions and answers, an uneasy night's sleep and a pathetic morning, Gin was wondering why he hadn't just ignored these freaks.  
He turned to look at Ganondorf, and then remembered.  
'I don't know How he does that thing, but it sure is effective.'  
After the Orc incident, Gin had seen the Gerudo male use his magic on two other occasions. Once to frighten his companion Rona into obedience, or was it silence?, and the second time to light up the studio after the electricity had failed.  
'It would be interesting if such power could be brought to the organisation…' he thought.  
Gin watched as the Gerudo thief marched along the windowed wall, narrowly missing rusty kitchen pots and thick cobwebs with his absurdly long cloak. He would have to change into one of the outfit's the organisation had placed in the studio before going out again. Leather worn like that would draw attention, although the cloak did do a good job of concealing the strongly built foreigner's features.  
If Gin had well understood, this « Ganon Dorf » claimed to have just escaped from his prison in some far away land, thanks to the magical assistance of the Rona woman.  
The silver haired man turned to look at her. She too had bronzed skin and reddish hair, but her facial features weren't attractive. She had a huge nose, and dull, glassy eyes. On her forehead she wore a yellow jewel which was a cruel echo of her nasal appendix.  
Definitely NoT pretty.  
She had called herself a sorceress, the « Twinrova's other sister », and had mentioned something about rubies before Ganon had cautioned her. Now she was scribbling furiously at the table where Vodka was fidgeting. Gin couldn't recognise the alphabet or system used.  
'Some sort of code perhaps?'  
« SCHRACK! »  
All turned their attention to the door. A round man came in, with some bags of shopping. After putting them down on the table, he then proceeded to remove his face.  
Vermouth was not glad to be back.  
She had pleaded to go out to do some food shopping, but Gin had made her understand that she was Not to sneak away without coming back. It was for his sanity, not hers.  
The American actrice decided to simply glare at the other woman in the studio.  
All three black organisation members had understood that easily enough:  
Rona was the one who could rid them of the newcomers' presence without bloodshed.  
As if Vermouth's return was the signal she had been waiting for, Rona put down her pen (that she had struggled to learn to use) and turned to Ganondorf.  
« Lord Ganondorf, » she said in her squeaky voice, « to return to Hyrule, we need to find the two other rupees. »  
The dark man frowned at his underling.  
« What do you mean, the Two other rupees? I thought you had only dropped the one before we got transported to this Hellhole! »  
The woman tried not to squirm too obviously. The black org. members felt left out. Not that they really minded, but they resented the strangers by principle and, had Ganondorf not demonstrated his might, they would have readily disposed of them.  
« It's part of how these stones work, my Lord. The Centaur's, Lion's and Mermaid's rupees all exist in different worlds, but they aren't always kept together… We- »  
« I see. » He cut her off. « And do you know where these stones are? »  
A heavy silence greeted him.  
Just as he menacingly started to summon lightning in his right hand, Vermouth intervened.  
Noisily slumping a newspaper she had just bought face up on the table, she stated:  
« A stone called the Lion's Ruby was stolen from somewhere in Beika last night. Perhaps we can go there and look for Kid the phantom Thief. If we're lucky, he might even have the other stone. »  
She smiled, imagining what the illusionary thief would have to say.  
Ganon stepped forward.  
« Alright. Take us there!! »  
« Not- » interrupted Gin, standing up and glancing meaningfully at the Gerudo male. He noted, annoyed, that they were the same height. « … before you get into some 'local' clothing. »  
He pointed to the cupboard where some black suits were kept. He trusted Vermouth to throw Rona something more descent than the sorceress's baggy trousers and way-too-small top.  
Grudgingly, Ganon complied, but not until he had slipped a whispered menace into the younger Twinrova's ear.  
« You had better find a way to detect those rupees, FAST. »

_**ù-wantmypercentagesignsbackù-**_


	8. Shivers

#Blabber#  
The plot is moving along… Another chapter to type up before I need to start writing drafts for this story again :c). Enjoy!  
#End Blabber#

**The Lion's Ruby.**  
By Dagron.

**#-#-#**

Chapter 08: **Shivers.**

**#-#-#**

After lunch, Conan informed the newcomers of what Heiji had told him on the phone. They wondered how he could talk to this Hattori without him being in the house. Until, that is, after some halting explanations Link decided it was thanks to something similar to Saria's song played on the ocarina.  
Conan decided it was best not to ask about that.  
After the newcomers had agreed that the case of the drunkard's death was most likely the work of Ganon's magic -Conan had hardly been surprised- they decided it was important to find the witness, Tsuki Ichigo.  
Alas, Heiji had told Conan, after a quick check, that after being more or less 'kicked out' of the police station, Tsuki had not showed up at his home.  
It was believed he was wandering around Beika, where the 'murder' had taken place, but no one had yet localized him exactly.  
« Okay then, » said Link. « We're going to search for him around Beika, right? »  
« Is Beika a big place? » asked Ruthan, who didn't like the idea of walking all afternoon.  
« Well it's not that large, » said Ran, reassuringly. « If we know what we are looking for, it shouldn't be too long. »  
« Hey, Detective Squirt! » went Kaito. The young magician relished the annoyed look he got as a response. « Did you get this Hattori guy to send you Tsuki's picture? »  
Conan shook his head.  
« No, but he gave me an internet address from which I could print it off. »  
« Shall I do it for you now? » Conan gave the professor the slip of paper with the url.  
« Where should we start looking? » wondered Ayumi out loud.  
« Well, we could look around the games arcade… »  
« Or the shopping mall… »  
« Or the train station… »  
As Genta, Ayumi and Mitsuhiko busied themselves enumerating various spots around Beika, Saria, Ruthan and Glink listened intently to the funny names these places had.  
« Shouldn't we start by the place where the 'suspicious death' took place and split up from there? » asked Haibara. She was still rather sceptical about 'magic'.  
Conan nodded. « Yes, that's what I was thinking too. »  
« But how would we communicate if we find this man? » asked Impa, who's red eyes still made Conan nervous.  
« We… Well , we can use our detective badges and split into five groups. »  
« 'Detective badges'? » asked Rauru, looking confused.  
« Tada! » Having heard his question, the Detective Boy threesome proudly presented their communicator badges.  
« It's like a phone, » said Ayumi helpfully.  
The older Hylians nodded, having understood 'similar to a magic ocarina'.  
Once the professor had returned with five copies of Tsukis portrait, they proceeded to making the groups.

**#-#-#**

In an alleyway, that had been corded off by the local authorities, lay a big slump of meat.  
This was the orc. It had been too heavy and alien for the authorities to remove it's bulk. They had decided to cord it off and put an officer on guard to avoid over curious pedestrians.  
That officer had been driven away by the stench.  
With any luck, a small crane would be there later in the afternoon to remove the monster. By then, the monster would no longer be there.  
A meaty hand was slapped onto the tarmac. The orc grunted as it shoved itself upright. Shaking it's malformed head, it got onto it's wobbly feet. The thing groaned when it noticed it couldn't find it's war axe. That had been removed at the same time as Malibu's corpse. Grunting, the orc managed to tear a metal bar from an overhanging fire escape ladder.  
He ignored the bin container that had attracted him to this alley way in the first place. He sniffed the air, oblivious to his own smell. His beady eyes turned red as he found a scent he recognised.  
Purposefully, he plodded through the police cords and back into the world of Japan.

**#-#-#**

Vodka felt a shiver run down his spine.  
'Odd,' he thought.  
Another shiver followed the first. He frowned. Now there came a third. Vodka turned his head, trying to see what it was causing these shivers. Nothing behind him.  
He glanced up at his boss. Gin looked dejected, but didn't seem to have felt any shivers. He glanced at Vermouth. She looked like she was sulking. Weird, but that didn't explain the shivers.  
He looked at the two Gerudos. They gave him shivers, but of a different sort. The witch somehow managed to look even more repulsive in a black suit. And as for Ganon… He shivered remembering the bolt of fire and lightning that had killed Malibu. He'd only narrowly escaped that same fate.  
He shook his head, trying to forget both that memory and the confounding shivers.  
It came back to him as he readjusted his black glasses. He'd felt such shivers before, but it had been a long time ago. It had been before he had entered the organisation, before he had even started wearing sunglasses due to an annoying, yet safely not a handicap, eye disease.  
It had been when they had bullied him in primary…  
Vodka stopped short in his stride. Why the hell would he feel such shivers now?! If anything, he was the bully now. He had a gun, and he wasn't shy to use it. He looked behind him, as if expecting to see the answer there.  
« What is it, Vodka? » asked Gin.  
« Oh, er nothing… » Vodka resumed his pace, trying hard to ignore the cold sweat that had broken out on his neck.

**#-#-#**

Vodka wasn't the only one to shiver.  
The metal container shuddered, shivered, and started to move.  
Rauru looked as if he were about to faint. Impa sat beside him, still as a statue, a fetish look in her ruby-red eyes. In front of her, Zelda bit back a squeal of fright. She clasped her hand around Link's, but he seemed oblivious to her torment. Staring out the window, he shared Glink, Saria and Ruthann's enthusiasm at riding on this contraption the locals called a bus.  
The four were as thrilled as a small child on an airplane. Even the detective boy threesome looked embarrassed by the newcomers' reactions.  
'Maybe the bus wasn't such a good idea after all…' thought Conan somberly.

**#-#-#**

Ichigo Tsuki had stopped moaning.  
In fact, he had even stopped caring.  
He had lost his sanity, and what a relief that was, he thought.  
He was snickering now, as he made with all stealth to where his life had been shattered only two nights before. His skittish eyes scanned the area.  
He was in a dead end street, blocked by big bin containers and too narrow and dark for cars to park there. Even now, in the early afternoon, the sun's rays couldn't reach the tarmac.  
He passed by a door, very familiar to him. He had been kicked out of the pub more than once through that door. He had always been with Ihara on those occasions. They had been kicked out together on that night. Ihara had been recklessly drunk.  
He wouldn't be going through that door ever again.  
Tsuki looked at the stain indicating where Ihara had died. The mark left by dry blood and the scorching flames was not what he was seeing though.  
In his madman's eye he could see his mate, drunk as usual, smirking.  
« We'll pay them back, Ihara, » he whispered. The dead man mouthed the words back to the mad man, « We'll pay them back, » and winked.  
Together, Tsuki and Ihara bent down. Tsuki's bloodshot eyes gleamed when they spotted what they had been looking for.  
His greedy hands shot out and gripped their eager fingers around the stone.  
He knew, somehow, that Ihara's murderer would be after this. He knew they would end up coming for it, coming after him.  
He laughed.

**#-#-#**

It took them some time to find the dead-end street. Somehow, Kaito wished they hadn't. It was bleak and awful looking.  
He shared the kids' reticence to enter the shadows. Conan and Haibara seemed impervious to them. Koizumi had followed them, whispering about an evil aura. Ran and Zelda didn't. Nor did Rauru or Agasa. Link and Impa followed cautiously. Somehow, they seemed more wary of the bin containers than the ominous stain on the ground or stink in the air.  
Kaito wished he knew some of the evil-warding spells Koizumi seemed to be whispering. Instead, he whispered his anti-fish prayer.  
_« Keep their glassy eyes away,  
May their scales disappear,  
And their white flesh burn in hell.  
If I ever see a fin,  
I swear to pin it down… »_  
He whispered it again.  
Then Saria prevented him from saying it a third time.  
She had taken out an ocarina.  
Kaito stared at her. This was not a place where one should feel inclined to play music. She never the less began to play her song.  
Suddenly, the bleakness seemed to fade, and Kaito's uneasy feeling vanished. He actually felt like laughing at how silly he just felt.  
He smiled at the young girl.  
« Thanks! » he said.

Meanwhile, Conan had examined the place of death. He and Haibara had come to the same conclusion. The newcomers' theory held true, and they didn't like it.  
Unheard by them, or Koizumi, Impa whispered. « He was here only a short while ago… »  
« Who? » asked Link. He alone had heard her. « This Tsuki guy? »  
« Probably, » she answered, « but I was thinking of the dead man's shade. »  
A few meters away, Koizumi Akako, known for her dabbling with the dark arts, had come to a similar conclusion.  
She also noted the remnant threads of magic, suggesting the recent presence of a mineral of great power. She smiled.  
Although the ghost's wanderings were worrying, she felt she had a trail to at least one of the missing rubies.

**#-#-#**


	9. The search

-Author's nonsense-  
Yay! School! And painting classes! Mouahahaha! No longer do I need to fend off boredom!  
In other words, my next chapter/story might be a while :c) depending on inspiration… Good thing about school is, if I ain't too tired, it sparks my inspired rebellious grey cells every now and then. We shall see what comes of it… :cD  
As for this story, I think we are approaching an (evil) climax 9.9  
...  
And, oh my god, they've done it again, they've stripped that weirdnumber symbol now ;.; Oh well Y.Y (snif)

-End of blab.-

**-**

**Chapter 9: **The search.

**-**

Rona stopped in her steps. Her ugly face turned her glassy-eyed gaze towards the park.  
'What now?' thought Vermouth.  
It took the other three some time to notice that the girls had stopped walking. When they did, they stopped too, looking back at them. What were they waiting for?  
Suddenly, the gerudo witch darted into the park. The men, realizing she might be attempting to run away, ran back to chase after her. Vermouth joined in half-heartedly. This was not how she had planned to spend the day…  
When they arrived earlier at the place where Kid had stolen the lion's ruby from, Gin had asked her to disguise herself and rapidly get some inside information. The deprived owner of the ruby was a jeweller who, accessorily, traded precious stones. There had been a rumour that the jeweller was going to acquire the other two gems: the Centaur and Mermaid rubies. The rumour was true, and he had been expecting to get his hands on them that very morning… Alas, the dealer had still not showed up. Vermouth left behind a few bugging devices, in case the delivery took place later, and went back out. She then lead the group in the direction Kid had been seen departing in. The direction was sadly way too vague, and they ended up walking aimlessly, until they reached Beika Park.  
The three black Org' members stared at Rona. She had stopped and was now on her hands and knees, searching in some patch of grass. Not far from her were the remnants of what looked like a small twig campfire.  
Ganondorf stepped forth.  
« What is the meaning of this, Rona? » His voice was low and full of menace.  
The witch combed the grass a small moment longer. The black org operators were dreadfully conscious of the strange looks passer byes were giving the ugly gerudo female.  
« Aha! » Rona victoriously held up a trampled blade of grass. Ganon glared meaningfully at her. She scowled.  
« This… » she said, pointing at the shred of greenery, « stinks of raw Magic. »  
Vermouth wrinkled her nose. There was definitely something that stank in the vicinity, but to her it smelt more like a dump. She wanted to move on fast.  
« So? » said Gin. He seemed to have been thinking along the same lines.  
Rona sighed.  
« This here, » she said again, « will lead us to one of the three rupees. »  
Ganon, understanding what this meant, grinned evilly.

**-**

« So… »  
« So? »  
« So what now? »  
Conan looked up at Kuroba. Kuroba smiled. Conan glared.  
« I don't know! » The small boy said.  
« You don't? » Kuroba chirped, a bit too gleefully. Conan grumbled.  
Why did he have to have Kuroba in his group? Sure, the teenager was friendly enough, but he had this knack for annoying Conan tremendously.  
First he called him squirt, second, he was shadowing him a shade too close and quietly, and most of all third…  
Seeing that Conan wasn't talking to him anymore, Kuroba made a flower appear out of nowhere and graciously offered it to Ran.  
If looks could kill, Conan would have murdered the young magician.  
« Kurobaa! »  
The teenage boy's face seemed to freeze. He slowly turned to look at where the voice had come from.  
« Ko-… Koizumi! What are you doing here? I thought you were with the Professor, Genta and that other old guy… »  
Conan noticed the stutter, slightly amused. Akako Koizumi beamed.  
« I thought it would be more fun if I came to join you guys. » She caught Ran's shoulder and winked. Was that a twinkle of malice in her eye? « Right Ran? »  
Ran smiled. « Why not? »  
Kuroba stared dumbly at Ran. Akako smirked, and Conan snickered.  
« Yay! I want miss Koizumi to join us too! » He cried.  
Koizumi patted him on the head. « That's so sweet of you! »  
Now it was Kuroba's turn to give Conan a death glare.  
**  
-**

Now to make things a bit clearer, it might be a good idea to define where everyone was, and in which groups they were…  
Both the Orc and Tsuki were in the 'I'm on my own-group', being separated by quite a fair amount of ground and plenty of walls… Of course, one might argue that Tsuki wasn't on his own, but with Ihara's ghost. That would really depend on what your opinion concerning the existence of such things was.  
Gin and Vodka didn't believe in ghosts. Vermouth wouldn't say, but if she did believe in them, she did a good job of keeping it a secret.  
The three organisation members were now following Rona and Ganon. For some reason, they were being followed by some dreadful stench. Vodka had a terrible feeling it had something to do with his shivers. The others had a dreadful hunch it had something to do with Vodka… So they decided to split up into groups, asking Rona to give them a 'make-shift magic compass' for each. They forcefully decided to meet up in the Park at sunset.  
During this time, Genta, who was paired up with Agasa and Rauru, kept looking around to see where pretty miss Koizumi had gone, while the two older men gossi'-… er, talked.  
We, naturally, already know where Koizumi Akako was. We know she was with Kaito, Conan and Ran.  
The others did not know this.  
Mitsuhiko, who was with Glink and Impa, assumed she was still in Genta's group. This was also assumed by Haibara, who was with Saria and Zelda, although she didn't really care which group the dark haired beauty was in.  
Ayumi's group included herself, Ruthan, and Link. They had totally forgotten about Koizumi…  
They were talking enthusiastically about what they saw, Ayumi thrilled at playing 'Tour Guide of Beika district'.  
Of course, all five groups were on the look-out for Tsuki Ichigo… Well, more or less-…  
**  
-**

Tsuki Ichigo stared over the wall at the three individuals. Two children, one young adult. Tsuki was intrigued. He was staring with particular interest at the young adult's ears…  
They were pointy.  
He hadn't thought of this before. Now that he was reminded of it, he was absolutely certain Ihara's killer had pointy ears too…  
Before that night, Tsuki had never seen anyone with pointy ears like that… Except perhaps on TV shows, in movies or on Anime Convention Cosplayers; not that he saw much of those, and they certainly weren't as convincing.  
It was then that he noticed another thing. One of the children was waving around with a paper in their hand. He squinted at it. It was a photo of someone he recognized. It was a photo of Himself.  
« I see… » he whispered. « They are already looking for me. »  
He grinned in an inane fashion, tightly gripping his fingers around the contents of his right pocket. His blood rushed noisily through his veins, his ears rang from the growing louder beat of his heart.  
In his madman's brain, a plan was taking form. In his sleep deprived state, the plan seemed absolutely perfect.  
He would not see the daring of it, nor the danger, let alone the insanity.  
Chuckling, he went back to where the three were unlikely to see him. With a stumble then a stride, he went to put his wonderful plan in action, muttering excitedly to Ihara's smirking shadow.  
The young adult with pointy ears looked up just a moment too late at the wall. The young man's crystal blue eyes seemed puzzled. He was certain he had heard a voice coming from over there…  
« What's wrong, Link? » asked Ruthan, noticing the blond's distracted air. Ayumi too had stopped chattering to look up at him, Tsuki's paper picture flapping in her hands.  
« Oh, nothing, » he answered, and forced himself to smile. « Nothing at all. Hey, where do you think we should look next, Ayumi? »  
Reassured, the young girl pointed towards their next destination, apparently a tall glass box with a small grey one inside it. On their way, she and Ruthan made a big show of looking in all the most improbable corners. They were smiling and laughing, as if they hadn't a worry in the world.  
Link's sixth sense though, was screaming. His hands itched for a weapon or a shield, anything to defend himself with. Something bad was coming, he could feel it.  
His eyes were no longer searching for a stringy and oily looking man, they scanned the surroundings for potential weapons and enemies.  
He tried to tell himself he was being silly, they didn't have monsters in Japan. How he wished his sixth sense was wrong…  
Because if it was right, the lack of hordes of monsters announced one heck of a mighty Boss.

**-**


	10. Weapons

-Blabber start-  
_As I said… Longer between updates now, what with school and all…  
Ihara's mean, he doesn't want to share his plans just yet! Xc(  
Sorry for some of the randomness in this chapter (looks away).  
Enjoy(?)_  
-Blabber end-

**The Lion's Ruby.**  
By Dagron.

-

**Chapter 10: Weapons.**

-

Vodka stared at the 'floating-above-his-palm' blade of grass…  
The magic compass seemed to be confused.  
One minute it was pointing one way, the next another…  
Oh dear.  
He had three choices…  
A- Go in one direction,  
B- go in the other…  
Or C- To go neither.  
Solution C was definitely the most appealing. Finding magic stones with an enchanted blade of turf was, he had to admit, too much for his usually restricted line of thought.  
But choice C was NoT the one to take.  
Vodka knew Gin… Or at least enough to know that when Gin glared at you with his deadly arctic eyes, telling you to do what you had been told, it was not wise to disobey. That was how Vodka managed to gain status in the organisation in the first place. Those who rebelled never lived long enough.  
Sighing, he closed his fist.  
He had better decide which direction to go in. He stepped towards the area the compass had been most interested in…  
And stopped, clenching his jaw.  
Damn shivers! They were crawling beneath his flesh!  
Alright then. He knew which direction -not- to go.  
Clenching the gun in his pocket, he ran towards choice B, conveniently 'Away' from the shivers zone…

-

Zelda was lost in thought…Her feet automatically followed in Haibara and Saria's steps, as her eyes vaguely took in the exterior world.  
'What a strange country…'  
She looked at the tall buildings surrounding her, looking at them properly, no longer overwhelmed by the novelty of the place.  
Many were tall and made in remarkably smooth stone. She was amazed at how few seams she could see… Surely they couldn't have built each construction directly from the one bloc!  
Others were full of 'seams' or rather 'beams', surrounding multiple areas of what was probably glass.  
There was also the odd pagoda, similar to some illustrations she had once seen in her father's library. The King had told her that they were the homes of people in some foreign land, but little details she could notice told her that the resemblance stopped there.  
Quite a few of the walls were covered in huge illustrations, or tagged with flashing giant symbols very similar to those in the text Koizumi had shown them earlier.  
But what surprised her the most were the masses.  
There seemed to be people everywhere. She noticed a few looking oddly at her ears… She blushed slightly. She was glad she wasn't in her princess's gown anymore. She wasn't sure she could have faced the curiosity that would have attracted.  
Shaking her head, she returned to the task at hand:  
In other words, stopping Ganondorf by finding this Tsuki Ichigo and hopefully the rupee that would send them home too.  
While scanning the crowds for a skinny, greasy haired man-boy did they all look the same here, she absent-mindedly fiddled with the Lion's Rupee that was in her jacket pocket.  
Of what use could these magic rupees have been to Ganondorf? Presumably he had not had just the one… And who had brought them to him?  
It took a mighty large amount of magical power to help someone break free from the sacred realm… Perhaps the stones had served as a catalyst of some kind? Or as a decoy for the seals of the sages?  
But Ganon's escape wasn't the only mystery occupying Zelda's mind.  
She turned her clear blue eyes to the small auburn haired child called Haibara Ai.  
Once you knew what to look for, it was obvious the girl was not a normal child.  
She didn't caper, or look around with wide eyes. Her movements were measured and had that ever so slight hint of watchful dread and wariness.  
Zelda recognised it. It seemed as if the girl was trying to anticipate some pursuer, just like she herself had spent her time as 'Sheik' doing… After a while, it became a habit. It definitely looked like a habit in Haibara's case. But who could she be hiding from?  
- _'The sheikah red eyes often indicate a life in shadow, punctuated by a loss.'_ -  
…Perhaps she was fleeing those who had caused her loss… And maybe those people had a link to what caused her to be so un-childlike. Being in hiding alone could not explain Haibara's mature tones… And what about the little boy, Conan? Was he hiding too?  
All this was very disturbing.  
Cleansing her thoughts, Zelda once again returned to looking for Tsuki in the crowds.

-

« Aha! » went Link, picking up what looked like some strange stick and holding it above his head. He smiled looking up at it.  
It was perfect. He could grip it with ease and it was neither too heavy or light. He gave it a few experimental swings before testing it's bend with his right hand. It was probably too blunt, but it would most certainly do. He grinned. His sixth sense was feeling better already. He no longer was totally unarmed. He would be ready to face whatever was coming their way.  
« Aha? what? » asked Ayumi, looking confused.  
« Link, what are you doing with that metal bar? » said Ruthan, slotted eyes peering suspiciously up at him. Ruthan knew more about Link than Ayumi did.  
« I wasn't just going to leave this on the ground for someone to trip over now, was I? » He answered, doing his hopeful best at an innocent look. He was quite good at it in fact.  
« Okay… » sighed the Zora child.  
Link happily hummed a tune with his metal bar in hand.  
They continued down the strangely empty street for a few minutes, until…  
« PooWee! What's that smell! » Ayumi stopped walking to cover her nose.  
It was then Link noticed the stink… Ruthan, not being equipped with much of a sense of smell, just blinked.  
The stench smelled like a dead animal marinated in old sock juice and sprinkled with some unpleasantly strong cheeses before being flambéed!  
It reeled, recoiled and punched you in the nostrils.  
« Can't you smell it! » Ayumi asked Ruthan, with tears in her eyes. The blue skinned boy simply shook his head.  
« But you have such a long nose: » said the young girl, surprised.  
« Areo… Aera… Air roe day gnomics… » stuttered Link. Giving up he answered, « it's more good for swimming. Come on, let's move on… »  
And as they moved ahead, a following shadow accompanied by a ghost cursed, before trying to discreetly catch up…

-

Unbeknown to him, Link's makeshift weapon had previously been the Orc's.  
The Orc had dropped it when it had noticed a potential weapon much more suited to it's own personal fighting style than the metal bar (torn from a fire escape ladder) had been.  
The creature grunted as it ripped the new weapon out of the structure it had previously been a part of…  
So much for Urban Art…  
The monster growled gleefully as it stood back up, swinging what now could only be called a 'fluorescent-pink-dangerous-looking-heavy-metallic' club.  
Stomping on what was left of the modern day sculpture, the Orc sniffed the air anew.  
It was still totally unaware of it's own steadily increasing stink, that cleared any street before it even set foot on it.  
Once more unhindered, the fiend marched on towards it's private goal. It didn't even bat a heavy eyelid as it walked past a greasy haired man followed by a ghost…  
Neither the Orc, Tsuki nor dead Ihara cared in the slightest to know that some poor Sculptor was going to have to build a brand new abstract allegory for 'achievement'.

-


	11. The Incident

è-é

**-Blabber Start-  
**_Wrote most of this just tonight. It's been a while since I wrote so much in one go :c) Me happy.  
Otherwise…  
I am cruel.  
Don't say I didn't warn you! -Looks guiltily away-_  
**-Blabber End-**

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**The Lion's Ruby**

**By Dagron**

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Chapter 11**: The incident.  
**  
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« Conan? »  
« Yes Ran? » answered the little boy.  
« Aren't you looking for this witness? » his young guardian asked.  
« Huh? »  
« You were staring at Kuroba just now… » She explained.  
« Oh! Haha… » He looked up at her, embarrassed, smiling nervously as he scratched the back of his head.  
« Sorry, I was only thinking. » And before she could ask him what about, he ran ahead, shouting « Perhaps we will find this guy around the corner! »  
Ran sighed, as Akako smirked.  
« That's an energetic young man… » She said, looking mockingly at Kaito.  
« Yeah, right… » he muttered.  
His expression was serious as Conan Edogawa turned around the bend.  
'He couldn't already be suspicious of me, could he?'  
Conan was grinning.

è-é

Gin and Ganondorf stared at their blade of enchanted grass. Right.  
Either Rona was trying to trick them, or they were in the vicinity of not one, but two of the enchanted stones they were after…  
And they only had one green compass.  
Do note, you never ever want to put two tall commanding bad guys together and ask them to decide on which direction they both had to take. They would most likely argue for a while, go « What? Together! » and then decide that together sounded good, as a long as it was in killing -you-…  
Rona was certainly not going to be nicely rewarded. And it didn't matter that they both chosen to start off together just because they were wary of the other.  
Gin didn't like the idea of letting a lightning ball wielding maniac out of his sight. Who knows? He could end up trashing his Porsche. Gin was most certainly Not going to have any of that, thank you very much. He was for Organized crime, not vandalism. He was looking forward to sending this freak back home, or, if all else failed, eliminating him.  
As for Ganondorf… Any man who dared talk back to him **_and_** give him orders, having seen what he could do to them was a man to keep an eye on. And it also irked him that he was as tall as him. Very few people towered at his height, and he generally made sure they didn't tower for long. He was feeling the urge to kill him, but had the feeling that Gin could be of use to him… Especially if he wanted to return to Hyrule.  
Having no one in their vicinity to kill (without being caught), and having argued and argued, they decided to do what any intelligent person does when confronted with a difficult choice.  
They threw a coin.  
If it landed heads up, they were to go right.  
If it was tails, they were going to go left, whether Ganon liked it or not.  
Maybe it would have been better if they went right.  
Maybe things wouldn't have gotten out of hand, and yet…  
It landed.  
Tails.  
They went left.

è-é

Shiver-  
'Oh crap.'  
The young girl stared wide eyed in front of her as she made sure she hadn't just imagined it.  
-**SHIVER**-  
No hesitation about that one. She needed to hide… Fast.  
Haibara Ai, also known as Sherry, née Miyano Shiho, looked up at the Hylian princess and green haired Kokiri. They were both dutifully looking at the faces in the dwindling afternoon crowd. They couldn't have a clue about who she really was. They wouldn't understand why she wanted them to 'Go into a dark corner, and hide, _right now_'. She had to think of a decent excuse quick…  
-SHIVER**shiver**SHIVER-  
Okay… Scratch that!  
« Zelda, Saria… Over here, quick! »  
And dragging them by their hands, she pulled them over to a sufficiently cramped, dark, and gleefully inconspicuous looking shop door.  
« What the…? »  
« Shh…! » The two taller girls had the sudden impression that they really didn't want to ask just yet.  
All three watched in strange fascination through the fuzzy glass pane on the door…  
A man in a black suit, black hat and sun glasses walked past and stopped. He was looking this way and that, glancing at an intriguing small object in his hand. It looked like a greenish-brown arrow. It was turning.  
Zelda noted, afraid, that it kept pointing towards her, and then behind the strange man.  
The man suddenly blanched, jerked his head to look behind him, shivered visibly and ran off.  
The girls stared vaguely as some sort of… Monster… walked past barely moments after, carrying a fiercely Pink… Thing…  
Erm. Right…  
Danger passed.  
Haibara sighed with relief. Zelda stared at her. Saria looked behind her with a slightly bewildered air.  
Someone cleared their throat.  
« How may I help, young ladies? » It was the man behind the counter who addressed them. There were other men in the shop, and one or two nervous looking women. They were all staring at them.  
Zelda couldn't help but blush, embarrassed, Saria was nervously hiding behind her.  
Haibara looked around the shop for the first time since they entered…  
She noticed the images on the walls, the weird objects for sale, and, ironically, a pair of handcuffs not far… Her cheeks reddened slightly and she quickly pulled them back Out into the now empty street, with a muttered 'Oops'.  
She was glad her bangs were hiding most of her own embarrassment.  
'Note to self… Don't ever do that kind of mistake again!' she thought fiercely.  
She hesitated a moment about calling Kudo about the Vodka sighting… And then decided it was best not to. Saria and Zelda both had a slightly dazed look, and she herself wasn't too sure about the… Thing… they had seen after Vodka. She was glad the other two weren't asking questions, but the « what to do next » placed itself as an important issue in her mind…  
Absent-mindedly pinching her nose (what the '_PardonHerFrench' _was that dreadful smell!), she rehearsed various scenarios in her mind.  
But she wasn't given the time to choose…

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« Kyaaaah ! »  
The cry echoed out in the near-empty blind alley.  
« Ayumi! »  
« Don't move! »  
The paper with the photo of Tsuki Ichigo fluttered down to the ground.  
Link stared, disbelieving, at the man they had been looking for.  
He didn't look like the man from the picture. Sure, he still had the greasy mop of hair, high forehead, sunken cheeks and red-veined eyes, but there was something different.  
Tsuki's look.  
His eyes were fill with madness! Link only recalled seeing such insanity in wounded foes and bosses. His sixth sense rattled at him. This was bad, he gripped his improvised bar-sword in his left hand.  
The skinny man tightened his hold on Ayumi, something looking suspiciously like a knife terrifyingly close to the young girl's throat. They could hear him muttering under his breath. Ayumi bravely tried not to sob too loudly.  
Damn him. The man was clearly off his rocker.  
« Ayumi! » cried Ruthan, his blue skin tinged with the green of worry. Link held him back with one hand.  
« What is it you want! » He said, trying not to make any sudden movement.  
If only the man released his hold on his hostage slightly… He could try a rolling vertical attack and knock him out before any harm came to the child.  
Tsuki grinned. « You know very well what it is I want… »  
His face took on a traumatising look of mundane as he said what it was he wanted, his mad eyes the only indication of his unstable mental state.  
« Revenge. »  
He cackled. « Oh yes! Sweet, sweet revenge! »  
'What? Revenge!' thought Link, puzzled. He had never even met this man before.  
« Oh they wouldn't believe me at the station, would they? Hehehe… I'll show them. I'll show them justice! »  
The madman's eyes seemed to focus on a point not far by his side. Link shivered.  
« We'll pay them back… » He said. A faint echo could be heard…  
« We'll pay them back! » The madman shouted louder.  
At these words, Link saw his chance. Tsuki's hold on Ayumi had shifted, he leaned forward…  
He was stopped by a cry by his side.  
He stared wide eyed as Ruthan started to fall to the ground, a flash of rich blue seemed to appear from the fin on his head. Dumb struck, he turned to look behind. Something whistled by his head, another whistling sound cut through his cheek.  
His thinking processes seemed to freeze on him.  
He reacted more out of reflex than common sense.  
He put his hand down to the ground and grunted. A blue shape formed around him and Ruthan, shielding them from further whistling sounds, which ricocheted against it's barrier.  
He had activated the spell 'Naryu's love'.

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**Dagron:** _Don't ask me about the shop thing, **please don't**-!_

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Review Responses:  
_I realize I've been forgetting these -sweatdrops-  
_Thanks to **Terra89** for the encouraging reviews! (I'm looking forward to your next update) :cD And thanks to **Fyliwion **too :c)  
As for **Loopy Lupa**: I hope you'll like where this story is going and that I won't disappoint your expectations concerning either LOZ or DC fandoms :co :c)  
**DarkPurpleDragon **: you have intrigued me. I am very curious about your own fic now! XcD I'm glad you've started it :c) I'd love to see!  
And **anonymous** is the first reviewer I've had so far to go « update » at me -sweatdrops- hehe. There's a first time for everything I guess llb  
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	12. Urgent Call

**dob **_Blabber _**dob**

_Sorry for leaving you so long on such a horrid cliffhanger…  
I have so been out of it this summer… Anyways, here's chapter Twelve.  
Hopefully I can get my rhythm back within the next month and start updating my fics again.  
Enjoy!  
(Just realized this is my longest English fic so far ô.ô ooh)_

**dob **_End of the Blabber _**dob**

**The Lion's Ruby**

_By Dagron_

_Chapter 12: _**Urgent call.**

**dob**

The wind whistled through the air.  
They could hear it… Which was weird, considering the usual amount of noise this 'Tokyo' city seemed to harbour.  
Saria stopped in her steps to close her eyes and listen. Beside her, princess Zelda and Haibara, confused, were looking around, trying to decipher where this intriguing sound was coming from.  
They were now all alone in the street… Which was exceptional of itself… It didn't seem to come from some flat window or shop, so…  
Saria concentrated. It felt important to certify what this melody was.  
It sounded like wind blowing through reeds… Then like the leaves rustling in the eaves of the trees…  
The leaves… A flute.  
It sounded like a flute… No wait. An Ocarina!  
She snapped her eyes open. Zelda seemed to have recognized the noise as well, for she whispered the name of the tune being played... Saria's song.  
The local girl, however, didn't realize what this meant, for she stared inquiringly at the princess and Saria.  
She then cried out in astonishment as she noticed the green moss forming around Saria's feet.  
The young sage didn't seem to take notice, and, as the melody grew louder, a small ball of light escaped from one of her pockets.  
Saria began to speak…  
« Link! What is it? Your playing, it seems…»  
She was cut off as the voice of the young blond hero came through to them, as loud as if he had been at their side.  
« Saria! I need help, fast! Tsuki's kidnapped Ayumi, and Ruthan has b… Ganondorf… They… He… Just come quick! »  
« Kidnapped Ayumi! » Went Haibara. He definitely seemed shocked, and what he said was very serious. It wasn't the moment to wonder at how the ocarina tune had kept on playing in the background.  
« Link! Where are you? We need to know, so we can come. » Said Zelda. Her hands were taut with concern.  
« I… In some sort of dead end street… Just past what Ayumi called the Beika Art institute. There's another park-like place just around the corner… Look, do hurry, Ruthan's hurt! I don't know how to help him… I… »  
« I know where it is. » Interrupted Haibara. « I'm calling the others. » She then whisked her Detective Boy badge-transmitter from her pocket and started speaking rapidly into it…  
« Alright Link. We're coming. Stay calm! » Said Zelda, seeming worried by the tone of panic she heard in Link's voice. It wasn't like him.  
« Link. Try that song the skullkid taught you. » Added Saria.  
As the notes of the song started to fade out, Link could hear the three girls' running feet.  
'Stay calm…' he thought, staring down at his ocarina. 'As if I'd been trying to do anything else. It's just…'  
He stared down further at the limp form of the young Zoran boy. His breathing was shallower then he would have wished for and as for the blood…  
'Goddess! What was it Saria said? The skull kid's song? Right! Song of healing, song of healing…'  
He desperately started to play the notes of the song, as he pushed out of his head any thoughts of what had just happened, wishing for the others prompt arrival…  
Sad thing, those troublesome thoughts were strong.

**dob**

A few minutes before, Ganondorf and Gin had come upon the dead-end street. Just moments after Ayumi's shout.  
The direction they had chosen earlier had brought them there. The magic rupee they were after was close by.  
Ganondorf stopped in his tracks.  
« I can't believe it. That brat follows me everywhere… » He snarled. He had recognized Link's features, despite his missing trademark green. There weren't many locals with big pointy ears, and wavy blond hair.  
Gin too had stopped. He was staring at the blue skinned humanoid beside the blond boy.  
'Not more monsters!' he thought.  
Both creatures were turned away from them, their full attention fixed on what seemed to be two individuals just beyond his sight. A young girl and a man by the voices that could be heard.  
They hadn't noticed them.  
Having also realized this, Ganondorf was already charging up a 'magic bolt', ready to aim it at his young arch-enemy.  
Gin put out a hand to prevent him. He pulled a metallic object out of his pocket with his left hand. His ice-blue eyes glinting from anticipation.  
« Allow me… » He said.  
Stepping forward and round the bend to the blind alley, he aimed his gun at the two unsuspecting newcomers.  
If Ganon Dorf seriously considered eliminating other supposedly 'Hylians', he would gladly cooperate in doing so… His way.

**dob**

An urgent beeping noise made itself known from the depths of Conan's pockets. Bringing his brisk walk to a halt, he pulled his emitter-transmitter badge from it's place and pressed the button on the back, acknowledging reception.  
Curious, Ran, Kuroba and Koizumi came towards him, wondering what the caller had to say. Had one of the groups already found the evasive Tsuki?  
« Edogawa! Tsuki has taken Ayumi hostage… »  
« What! » The four of them stared at the badge, disturbed by what they had just heard. No hi, nothing, just plain urgent fact. What! How? Who? When?  
« Ha- Haibara, is that you? » stuttered Conan.  
« No, it's the Queen of England. Of course it's me. We need to hurry to Kirin Alley, by Haido Park. Apparently, one of the Hylian's was injured there… » Conan thought he heard the word 'Zora' in the background… « Whatever, we need to get there fast. Can you tell the others? »  
« Sure… » He answered. « But how do you know of this, if you're not there? How did this happen! »  
« Link contacted Saria using that Ocarina song he mentioned earlier. » She answered tersely. She was of two minds about that. Either there was a trick, either it really was magic, and in that case, she was going mad. The less said about it, the better. « I don't know the rest. »  
« Alright, I'll call the others. We'll meet you there. »  
« Okay. » And then there was a beep indicating that Haibara had cut the connection.  
Conan scratched his head as he turned the dial to Genta's transmitter. If they used the 'all' setting, he would set off Ayumi's badge, which would alert Tsuki. They hadn't expected that the witness could be dangerous. Curses.  
As he reported the news to the other Detective Boys, his team members (plus Koizumi) stood gloomily, digesting the news.  
« Kirin Alley…» Muttered Kuroba, arms crossed and his features serious. « Right. »  
Then, as one, the three teenagers started running, right, towards Haido Park, followed by young Conan, still talking into his badge.  
This was serious.

**dob**

Ayumi squirmed as the horrible man carried her in his smelly arms. He scared her, but not as much as his random cackling.  
And he'd done a lot of random cackling, much to her dismay.  
She clenched her jaw as she tried not to cry or shout out. She knew that shouting for help was more likely to annoy than frighten her captor. She had been in this situation often enough to understand this.  
Sugar! Why did it always have to be the cute girls that the bad guys kidnapped? Why her! It just wasn't fair. Why couldn't it be Genta or Mitsuhiko for once?  
Or why not Conan for a change? Wouldn't it be great if she could be his knight in shining armour just one time?  
She sighed mentally to herself. Of course, that would never happen. Conan was way too smart to inadvertently let himself get kidnapped.  
She squirmed a little more, and managed to turn her head to look behind them, half hoping to see Conan come to her rescue like so many times before, half dreading she would see those two Terrifying Men.  
She shuddered at the memory. There were bad guys and then there were The BAD Guys, evil!  
Even more tears reached her eyes as she recalled how the dreadful man with long pale hair had shot at Ruthan and Link. Link had somehow put up a magic shield to protect them from the bullets, but by then, Ruthan had already been badly injured…  
'Oh please let them not be dead!' she prayed in thought, more tears swelling forcibly in her eyes. Being a detective boy, she wasn't as naive as other children her age when it came to death. Once you were dead, you stayed dead. It wasn't like in video games…  
She then recalled how, at the appearance of the two strangers clad in black, Tuski's grip had painfully tightened, his blade even more menacing. And oh how he had cackled! His laugh had been a hundred times worse then the evil laughter of the villains in Kamen Yaiba.  
« Oh! There you are! » He had cried out in glee. « I didn't think I'd get your attention so soon, Mister Murderer… » The last few words had been pronounced with a huge amount of venom in them. They seemed to be directed at the Bulky stranger. The one with the tanned skin and flame red hair.  
His companion, who had stopped wasting bullets when he noticed they were being stopped by Link's barrier, turned to 'Mister Murderer' and asked him if he knew the madman. And much to Tsuki's fury he denied it.  
To Ayumi's relief, he shifted his grip on both her and his knife, to yell out to the world his dismay.  
« You don't recognize me? You don't! You monster! »  
His eyes swivelled to fix on something, or someone, who obviously wasn't there. « You hear that Ihara! Your murderer doesn't recognize us! The cheek! »  
Ayumi couldn't help at the time but to think he was the one who had cheek. Those guys obviously had guns, and didn't seem to be the kind to care about pretty little girls taken as hostage. It was like a cocky goat making fun of an angry grizzly bear. The tall pale haired man was already aiming his gun at him, an evil grin on his face.  
« Well I don't think so, nuhuh… » Tsuki had continued, oblivious. His knife still in his hand, he fingered at his breast pocket. « Once we've made him pay, he's going to rue the day he murdered Ihara Shoji… For eternity!»  
He pulled out a sparkling gem.  
The red-head then gripped the gunman's arm.  
« You're after this, aren't you? » Tsuki grinned. And cackled.  
Ayumi had watched in horror as the two men in black suits silently came to the same conclusion. It would be easy to shoot him down on spot and pick up the gem. Link too must have realized this, because he suddenly ripped out of his inertia, his magic shield shattering, shouting his refusal. If The BAD Guys eliminated Tsuki, they would probably kill Ayumi too… And Ruthan was already unconscious.  
He performed an impressive swing with his metal bar, effectively removing the gun from the pale haired man's grip… But the swing continued, and the blond hylian was twirling like a top, his improvised weapon hitting the two men out of his way.  
Then behind Link, Tsuji snarled at 'mister murderer', and turned to run away. « See you at Teitan Temple, tonight, Mister Murderer! » He still held Ayumi tightly in his grip.  
Link urgently turned round and called after the departing madman… But was hit from behind by the red-head. Hard.  
Ayumi called out, as she saw Link groan and fall unconscious to the ground. Tsuki snapped at her as he jumped over a wall into a vehicle he had prepared. She had heard more muted gunshots and even some crackling, like static or fire. It seemed like the men in black had decided to chase after them…  
And now, all Ayumi could hope for was that Conan, or anyone available, could rescue her before Tsuki or those dreadful Men in black decided to harm her.

**dob**

_Review Responses:_

_Terra89:_ «plz update soon? » … May I say 'Oops'? Haha… Oh well here is the update anyways… (And I need to get back to reading your work!)  
_Onee-san:_ Hey, glad you like! And yes, someone should have struck me down for leaving you hanging on such a cliffy for -so long-. And glad to see someone appreciates Ruthan too! We shall have to see how or if he survives this ordeal, nay? (Evil wink.) Hope you still like despite my long break.


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